White Wings
by tyedies
Summary: Seto Kaiba finds himself in Soul Society, having been attacked by a death god. Toshiro finds him, and while they have similar cold personalities, they also have something else in common: dragons. While Seto plans revenge against his attacker, he discovers a strange recent intertwining of duel monsters and zanpakuto that threatens to collapse in on itself. [Complete]
1. Disorientation

_Welcome to our world. How are you feeling?_

Seto Kaiba squinted his eyes open. Blinding light shone straight at him, softened only by the figure in front of him. A little boy in black with a frown and white hair stared down at him with cold, calculating eyes. He had white hair, but he was small.

"Where am I, old man?" said Seto.

"That's better than _kid_ , but that's hardly the respect to show a stranger," said Toshiro.

Seto adjusted to his surroundings bit by bit. He was sitting on stone ground, and his arm throbbed in pain. He didn't dare look at it, knowing he wouldn't like what he saw. As unbelievable as it was, he was injured, and couldn't recall his attacker. The bug who did that to him would pay.

"Rangiku, we're taking this guy to the 4th district," said Toshiro.

"Okay, captain," said Rangiku.

A gorgeous redhead, from what he could tell, picked him up in her arms. It was humiliating that he, Seto Kaiba, would be carried about as if he was a weak baby.

"Put me down. I can handle myself, thank you very much," Seto snarled.

"Not very friendly, are you," said Toshiro.

Kaiba turned his head. He hated that look that tried to pierce through his mind. It was smart, cold, patronizing, and infuriating. Seto struggled against Rangiku's grip, but found his strength all but gone. A sharp pain shot through his right arm as he tried to move it. He grimaced but continued struggling.

"You don't know who you're dealing with. My name is Seto Kaiba, head of Kaiba Corporation. I don't need any of your help," said Seto. It didn't sound as impressive with his thin voice as he had hoped.

Toshiro groaned, rubbing his fluffy, fluffy hair. "Let's just ditch him off a cliff."

"Or we can keep him as a pet. His clothing and hair are strange, but weirdly charming. We can keep him at the office to keep us company while we work," said Rangiku, in a high, lilting, but rather seductive voice. Seduction. It annoyed Seto. That was just the kind of manipulative tactic people used to try to give them an upper hand in dueling against him. Not that any succeeded, except for the plague known as Yugi Moto. That guy was all too cocky with his "heart of the cards" nonsense.

"You just want to pawn your paperwork on him," said Toshiro.

"And what's wrong with that?" said Rangiku. "There's so much of it."

"Talking about me as if I'm not here," said Seto in the loudest voice he could squeeze out.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of you," said Rangiku with a smile.

"You do realize he's about a thousand years younger than you, right?" said Toshiro.

Seto watched as Toshiro jumped 20 feet in the air and landed on the roof of a nearby building. Flying?! Shadow realms were one trippy thing but that could be chalked up to chemicals or just Yugi's weird Egyptian stuff. His stomach dropped as Rangiku bunny-hopped in a similar manner. The impact as she touched ground was light as well, and before he had time to process anything, they were running across tiles. In his normal state, he rather liked vehicles of transportation, but right then he was feeling woozy. If he could see himself, he'd bet his skin was ash-white. His grip on consciousness faded.

Seto sat cross-legged on his assigned mat, his healthy arm in his lap with the other wrapped stiff in bandages. He was seething. The people in that world didn't know what duel disks were or even duel monsters. Bunch of Joey Wheelers. Not to mention, they put him in an unstylish black kimono which had no pointy edges. They were all crazy, saying that they were death gods and carrying around lethal blades. Though on the plus side, he was getting new ideas for duel monster cards and perhaps new equipment for his incompetent Kaiba Corp. guards.

The boy (named Toshiro as he had been told), entered the room. It was closed off from the other patients. Apparently, he put them in a bad mood.

"Hello," said Toshiro. "You are Seto Kaiba, head of Kaiba Corporation, correct?"

Again with the calculating look. "Yes. What do you want?"

"What are you doing here?" said Toshiro.

"Someone attacked me with a sword after I was brought here. I don't remember what happened before," said Seto.

"Well, isn't that convenient. You remember nothing else at all?" said Toshiro.

"No. Is the interrogation over yet?" said Seto.

"Who attacked you, what did they look like? What was their weapon like?" said Toshiro.

"Looked the same as all of you," said Seto. "Shouldn't you know who they are, or is your police force just that bad?"

"Japan is different from this world and things function a little differently. Normally, you wouldn't go here until after you died, but hey, maybe the universe is telling you it wants you dead," said Toshiro, unamused.

"It's not the first time I've been told something like that," said Seto.

"If there was someone who could recognize their reiatsu, this would go a whole lot easier," Toshiro sighed. "Naturally, you've been put under the tenth division's watch, and this case as well. You can go back to Earth today. There's a clinic in which you'll stay in until you recover. You'll be protected from future attacks there, at least until this is solved."

"I'm not leaving until I find out who did this to me and make them regret having been born," said Seto.

Toshiro half-smiled. "You are a human, planning on going up against an experienced and nearly immortal death god."

"I have the means to humiliate them," said Seto, fanning his duel monsters deck across the floor face-up. "Your kind doesn't know of these, yet, but I'll show that piece of dirt their worthless third-rate dueling skills."

Toshiro raised his eyebrow, not comprehending how people would fight with cards. Examining them more closely, they each had a drawing along with numbers and text imprinted on them. He reached for one of them before Seto growled.

"Is that one an ice dragon?" said Toshiro, motioning to the card.

Seto perked up. "This is my prized treasure, the blue-eyes white dragon. It has a massive 3000 attack points and 3 of them can be sacrificed for the blue-eyes ultimate dragon. You have surprisingly good taste."

"It's… a little different from my hyorinmaru, but it's beautiful," said Toshiro.

Scratch everything bad Seto thought about Toshiro, he was a good guy.

"Hyorinmaru?" said Seto.

"That's the name of my sword. When it's released, the hyorinmaru's ice dragon form appears," said Toshiro.

Seto's heart beat picked up. The blue-eyes white dragon was the love of his life next to money and rubbing the faces of the unworthy in the metaphorical dirt. He hadn't thought of it as an ice-type before, but it could fit based on how it looked.

"You're going to show me, right?" said Seto.

"It's not really for show, but you won't stop bugging me about it until you see it, will you?" said Toshiro.

Seto nodded.

He followed Toshiro outside to a smooth, empty path, the edges of which were shaded by cherry blossom trees. Sunlight streamed in full force of noon. Arches of dark wood were lined up at the beginning and end of the walkway, and the air full of breezy, flowery scents. Toshiro stood in the center, holding his blade in front of him. Seto watched from the sidelines as his clothes and white hair rustled upwards from a blue substance swirling from the ground around his feet. His blue eyes glowed. The thought occurred to Seto that Toshiro was a human (or death god) version of the blue-eyes white dragon.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, hyorinmaru!" said Toshiro, his voice muted as Seto was laser-focused on the mass of ice with a mouth.

It was striking. Reflections of light glinted off of its icy scales, sharp fangs, and soul-crushingly cold eyes which chilled Seto's skin. It was even more stunning than blue-eyes. In that instant, Seto knew: he had to have it.


	2. Before the Storm

**A/N: Hey, yeah it's been a while. I plan on updating every Monday, although I can be lazy so it's fine to pressure me into writing more if I fail a deadline.**

"How much money do you want for one of these?" said Seto. "I'll pay as much as I need."

Toshiro's glowy ice dragon dissipated and he sheathed his sword.

"You're not a death god, so you can't use one," said Toshiro.

"What kind of rule is that?" said Seto.

"It's the way it works. There's no way around it, not that I would want an untrained stranger swinging one around," said Toshiro.

Seto ground his teeth. He would let the conversation go for now, but nothing was going to get in his way of obtaining one of those glorious objects.

Toshiro took Seto back to the office where Rangiku was, ready to abandon her paperwork and keep watch over him, or perhaps rope him into a few things, but Seto had a better idea. While Toshiro was out doing some investigating, he pulled out a deck of cards. An hour later, Rangiku dumped a pile of unopened decks and a duel disk on the floor and they starting playing.

"Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack her life points directly!" said Seto.

Ah, it was cathartic to see holographs destroy health bars, and people's dignity. Rangiku swept up her cards. "This game makes no sense. How does a flaming knight lose to a little green guy?"

"Obviously because it has higher attack that its defense," said Seto.

"The knight has a flaming sword. The green guy doesn't," said Rangiku.

Seto grumbled under his breath. Weren't there any better opponents? She wasn't learning that quickly, and he could tell she would only amount to a third-rate duelist. Rangiku picked the plastic off another pack and shuffled through it.

"Ooh, what does pot of greed do?" said Rangiku.

Toshiro walked in, worn out. Opponent spotted.

Rangiku started. "Oh, hello captain. This boy has been bullying me with this game. He keeps laughing at me when I lose and saying mean things about my skill."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" said Toshiro.

Seto tossed him a pack of cards.

"I guess a children's card game is simple enough," said Toshiro.

"Simple? I'll show you how simple it is to beat you," said Seto.

After a few rounds, Toshiro was getting close to winning and each one took longer than the last. Seto was beginning to sweat.

"That's enough for today," said Seto.

Toshiro knit his eyebrows together for a minute. He was thinking. Not a good sign if Seto wanted to retain his dominance.

"In the end, it's all about luck. That reduces its potential for competition. How is it they have major tournaments with this in your world?" said Toshiro.

"What?" said Seto. "This is the greatest game ever made. Of course it's competitive. That sounds like the talk of someone afraid to admit he'll never beat me."

After the words came out his mouth, they reminded him of something. The night he was brought to Soul Society.

Rain splashed around Seto, and all was dark around them except for the faint light of the holograms. His life points dropped to 0. He was so close that time, just 100 life points away. Yugi was facing him and said stuff he couldn't quite hear.

Seto walked away. He was used to losing to Yugi, but it was frustrating. He had the best deck, save the god cards, with masterfully planned out strategies. No matter how many times it took, he wanted to win against him and finally claim his title as the best. With just the right luck, or cards, or plans, he could. That's what he always told himself. Only, it was starting to seem hopeless. All the losses were starting to sink in.

Mokuba caught up to Seto's brisk pace.

"You'll get him next time, big bro," said Mokuba.

Seto said nothing.

"Seto? What's wrong?" said Mokuba.

"No matter. Let's go home," said Seto.

He spent restless hours trying to sleep replaying the battle in his head. The pain of his life points dropping, of having to admit defeat again. He looked out of his window. It was still raining. Umbrella and duel disk ready, he opened the door and got sprayed with water. It was chilly, too. He propped up his umbrella on his shoulder, only blocking half the precipitation. No one else was out. Not that he could be bothered to care who saw him at the moment.

He stopped when he reached his high school. It didn't seem like he had been walking for long, but he must have been zoned out for quite a while. He remembered noticing Yugi for the first time in that school from his talk of a rare card. Their battles started there and he had been chasing Yugi ever since. He strategized, found blue-eyes white dragon cards, and managed only a single victory from threatening to let himself fall off of a castle roof otherwise. His only obstacle, an impossible threat. Yet, he enjoyed the challenge. Yugi pushed him to his limits.

"Next time… next time I'll prove superior," Seto murmured. "I'll spend some time testing new decks, and strike when he's at his weakest. I'll come with a perfect plan. It'll be perfect. There's no way, I refuse to believe it's impossible. What does all I worked towards mean if I can't overcome him? Next time…"

"Looking for a winning strategy?"

A lanky figure dressed in a black robe leaned against the school gate in front of him. The details of their face couldn't be made out with clouds blacking the moon, and their voice sounded fuzzy like it was played over a low-quality radio. They had straight, dark hair of unknown color gown to their shoulders.

"What do you want?" Said Seto.

"You smell like honey. Just the thing to go with milk," said the stranger.

Seto scowled. "Quit the crazy talk and leave. I don't have time to waste on you."

"I've been searching for the right ingredient. You see, winning is about power, but it'll never be enough if you're constrained by the rules," said the stranger.

Seto could've sworn he saw them grin. Then it flashed white.


	3. Disturbance

Seto was sitting on the floor, processing the information he just recalled and relayed it to the 10th division captain and vice-captain.

"Milk and honey? Are they talking about blood? Maybe they wanted to collect some of yours, mix it with someone else's and create some kind of super weapon," said Toshiro.

Lightning flashed. Seto hadn't realized how dark it had gotten. Flashes of light didn't bother him, but the other two looked shocked (no pun intended). Toshiro gripped his zanpakuto reflexively.

"What kind of spiritual power is this?" said Rangiku.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good. Let's go," said Toshiro, nodding to Rangiku.

Rangiku glanced back at Seto. "Just stay here for now."

With a gust of wind, they were gone. Seto watched the clouds gather outside. It reminded him of how that night was supposed to be sunny with a 0% chance of rain, yet clouds were gathering. That could only mean one thing; the mystery death god was going to show themself, and there was no way Seto was going to just wait around. He would see that they suffered for forcing him to play duel monsters with one arm.

Death gods here and there were running towards a singular point as Seto watched. He took his cards and duel disk and followed them from the shadows.

Up in the distance, the sky was turning orange, casting an unholy shadow. Once he got to the spot, he hid behind a building. Death gods surrounded the area, and in the center was a spot that looked like it had been smashed by a small meteor. The hole was coated with a clear substance. Seto watched Toshiro and some other fancy looking death gods with white robes talk.

"I wonder if they know I'm right here," said a familiar voice, behind Seto.

Seto turned to see the guy who put his arm in a cast. "I see you aren't running away this time. It's time to duel."

Seto activated his duel disk. The death god smiled.

"This is perfect," the death god said, taking a hold of Seto and dragging him to the crater. Seto couldn't shake him off, his grip was like that of a dragon.

"Release me, coward. You don't want to know what I'll do to you," said Seto.

A death god cast a spell with blue lights meant to pin down the kidnapper, who dodged them with ease. "Hey hey, don't you want to hear my story first?"

"Who are you?" Toshiro asked.

"Well, my name is Tsuki. I don't want to alarm any of you, but uh, the monsters you fight are boring. I'm just here to brighten all of our lives," said Tsuki.

"Stand down and release the human," said someone else.

Tsuki rolled his eyes. He cast a barrier around him and Seto. He took Seto's duel disk and cards despite protest, which made Seto incredibly angry, and proceeded to place it in the crater. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then a dark purple shockwave exploded from the center to the forseeable distance, shaking the ground. Tsuki picked up the duel disk and cards and handed them back to Seto with no visible defect.

"Sorry to startle you," said Tsuki.

Tsuki vanished, and his barrier did as well. Seto was right there but couldn't do anything against him. It was unbelievable that someone would just reject a duel.

"You okay?" said Toshiro. Seto could tell it was genuine concern behind his uncaring tone, probably because they were similar types of people.

"I'm doing great," said Seto.

Most of the death gods left the scene, leaving just him and Toshiro. Toshiro's expression was sour. He hated not having all the information despite having searched for it.

"Aren't you going to continue investigating?" said Seto.

"I'm just taking a small break. I need to calm down before I do anything rash," said Toshiro. "I don't want a repeat of the Aizen incident."

The Aizen incident sounded like a long story that Seto couldn't care less about. Seto hung by Toshiro for a little bit for what he had been told was something called moral support. After all, he had a real life near perfect blue-eyes white dragon. Seto found that he was starting to respect the guy, which surprised him.

Toshiro released a breath. "I'll take you back"

"I'll go back on my own time," said Seto.

"Suit yourself," said Toshiro. "I don't know what just happened, but it's not safe out here."

Toshiro flash stepped away.

Seto didn't want to tell Toshiro about the strange thing going on with his duel disk. He strapped it on his arm. It was shaking and he could feel a dark energy emitting from it. Curse that Tsuki for messing with his property. Seto put a card in a card slot, one that just so happened to be the blue-eyes white dragon. Before his eyes, his duel disk was beginning to transform.


	4. Transformation

**A/N: I don't know if anyone following this story is still interested, but I'm finally posting again and I'm determined to finish this soon. It's been a year since the last update (lol) but there's probably 2-4 chapters left.**

Seto's duel disk shook and melted, reforming itself with speed and clouds of musty, thick purple moisture molding itself into the material. Seto could only watch as rings formed around his arm, squeezing it, and the silver disk he once used turned dark grey and pointed all around his forearm, like a weapon. It was heavy like metal, not plastic, and had multiple glowing slots with which to put cards. The card he summoned was there, and it formed into the blue-eyes hologram. It was magnificent no matter how many times Seto saw it. But then it started glitching, the particles fading in and out and becoming discolored. In a panic, he removed the card.

Seto looked at the disk from all angles. It was an entirely new object and very tight. He tried to wrestle it off with his bandaged arm and shook it as hard as he could. He sat down and started forcing it off with his foot.

"Get off!" said Seto, With that, the braces retracted and the disk fell off.

Seto hadn't seen anything like it, but with all the crazy things that were happening around him, he accepted it easily. The new design of his creation had a threatening, sharp image which was suitable to him. Without a second thought, he put making more of them on his to-do list. The list he'd do after he got rid of Tsuki for how they harmed him. And after he found a way to get an ice dragon like Toshiro's Hyorinmaru.

Back at Toshiro's office, Rangiku was filling out papers alongside Toshiro, whose eyebrows were scrunched at a particular page.

"Milk and honey, milk and honey, milk and honey," Seto heard him whisper under his breath.

While he was distracted, Seto stashed his duel disk in a corner. Toshiro didn't need to see it as it was Seto's to deal with until he figured out how it worked and how to fix it. He didn't want to show an incomplete project to anyone.

The disk that Rangiku had retrieved from Japan was still there on the floor, still in its original shape. It was probably because it hadn't been infected with the purple stuff.

Seto didn't know what he was going to do with the new object yet, but he did know that Hyorinmaru was still sealed in the sword on Toshiro's back. That's what he needed. If he could only take it back with him and replicate it.

The clock was ticking as Seto watched for an opportunity to take it. Hours went by, and Rangiku left and came back doing various missions. Death gods stopped by to talk to Toshiro who remained in his seat.

"Captain, is it just me or is it really heavy in here," said Rangiku.

Toshiro broke from his concentrated position.

"You're right, it does feel weird in here. Like an oppressive reaitsu, but I don't recognize it," said Toshiro.

"That death god, Tsuki, it feels similar to them," said Rangiku.

"But not the same," said Toshiro. He sighed, ruffling through his work. "I don't know if I'll be able to figure this out tonight."

Rangiku looked like her brain was about to explode. She eyed Seto.

"C'mon, let's take a walk," said Rangiku.

"I'm fine right here," said Seto.

Rangiku was stronger and pulled him outside with protest. The last bit of light was twinkling out, and it was chilly.

"Quit pushing me around. If we were in Japan, you'd be a mere peasant who'd never get anywhere in life," said Seto.

"Ah, but we're in Soul Society," said Rangiku, smirking.

Seto was fuming, but just crossed his arms.

"What are we doing out here?" said Seto.

Rangiku slowed to a stop. "I need a break from all the chaos and clear my head. I may seem like I don't have a care in the world but even I think deeply about things. And this situation with Tsuki, it's a mess. Captain is stressed out and sometimes it feels like there's nothing I can do to help him. He burdens himself to take care of everything."

"There's nothing wrong with living like that. I retain the responsibility of my company by myself. I test new cards, make creative decisions, and control all my employees to name a few, and it's gotten me a long way," said Seto. "If Toshiro wants to be successful, he's doing well."

"There are battles you have to fight yourself, but it shows a lack of responsibility to the problem if you don't care how well it gets solved and only that you're the one solving it," said Rangiku. "Having support is a good thing."

"Things work out the best for me if I'm the one taking care of them since I'm the only one capable of doing them well," said Seto.

"Wow, tough guy, let's see how well you can drink sake," said Rangiku.

After Rangiku dragged Seto off to drink, he found an opportunity when her attention was off him to sneak back to the office without touching a drop of sake, where Toshiro was asleep.

Seto licked his lips. His chance was finally there. He stepped noiselessly around the stacks of papers and around to Toshiro's side near the window. Up close, he saw he had a small frown, and his hair was extremely thick, almost as much as Yugi's. From his serious expression even during sleep, Seto concluded that he was a trustworthy guy, smart and hardworking, and who even shared his passion for dragons.

Seto reached for Toshiro's zanpakuto on his back. It was cold. He tugged at it, and let go when Toshiro moved his head. A few moments later Seto confirmed he was still asleep.

Slowly, Seto retrieved the entire sword from its pouch. His heart pounded as he left. He found a secluded area somewhere outside and checked that it was empty of death gods.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!" said Seto, holding it in front of him.

Nothing.

Seto repeated the phrase to no avail. Frustrated, he threw it to the ground. Why would it work for Toshiro and not him? It was the same sentence, but nothing glowed around him while he said it. It must've been magic that unlocked Hyorinmaru's ability. If that were the case, Seto would find out how to use magic no matter the cost.

"A zanpakuto can only be released by its owner. They're specialized," said Toshiro from behind him.

Seto turned.

"How did you find me?" said Seto.

"I woke up the moment you tried to take Hyornimaru. Now I see what you were trying to do. I knew I couldn't trust you," said Toshiro. Pure anger spilled from his glowing eyes.

Seto stepped back. "I had to try it out for myself. This item would prove very useful to me."

"Yeah, you're just a thief," said Toshiro.

Toshiro threw Seto's duel disk at his feet.

"I saw this transform earlier. What are you hiding from me?" said Toshiro.

"It's my property. I decide what happens to it. You don't," said Seto.

"Hypocrite," said Toshiro. "And you're probably working with Tsuki. Milk and honey, huh? Zanpakuto and duel disks. What are you planning?"

"Although I could pull off any scheme I want to, I have no interest in tearing apart Soul Society," said Seto.

Toshiro picked up Hyorinmaru. "I don't believe you."

Seto took his duel disk while Toshiro began to glow blue.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!"


	5. Preparation

**A/N: A bit of vulnerability? Fighting? Mmm I want some milk and honey now, writing about it so much makes me think it must be delicious.**

The air around Toshiro blasted with enough force to push Seto back. Yet he was confident and didn't back down when a stream of ice with teeth bared shot from Toshiro's zanpakuto. Seto pulled a card from his sleeve and placed on his disk with the lightning fast reflexes of a master duelist and breaking his cast in the process. He didn't expect it to work. He just did the only thing he had ingrained in his memory. But exploding from thin air was a huge Battle Ox, blocking Hyorinmaru's attack.

The contact screeched with a horrible sound as a glitchy mess stood in front of them. Seto withdrew the Battle Ox and replaced it with the Blade Knight, which appeared with splotchy colors. Hyorinmaru was trembling as well, as Toshiro tried to move it and the ice fell and shattered. He charged at Seto and iced his shoulder to his upper arm on his still-bandaged arm.

Seto would've glared at Toshiro and given him a piece of his mind if he wasn't distracted by the glitchiness of what just happened. Hyornimaru shook badly and Toshiro lost his grip on it, and it clattered on the ground.

"What did you do to Hyornimaru?" said Toshiro.

"I'd tell you if you gave me time to explain," said Seto. "I don't know what's going on, but it's clear that Tsuki did something to my duel disk."

"It's clear to me, too," said Toshiro, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not involved with that filth. He took my duel disk and tampered with it without my permission," said Seto.

"Rangiku," said Toshiro.

"Yes, Captain," said Rangiku, appearing from the shadows and using a spell that bound Seto's hands together.

"You were, you were out drinking," said Seto.

"I came as soon as I felt an increase in Captain's reiastu," said Rangiku.

She held Seto in a vice grip.

"We're going to get answers from you," said Toshiro.

"Sure, blame me without any evidence. Absolute genius," said Seto.

Toshiro scoffed at him.

Seto was questioned back at Toshiro's office.

"You're not a perpetrator after all," said Toshiro. "But we do know some things now. The 'milk' is zanpakuto, and the 'honey' is duel monsters, and they mix together to make something. Something really messy."

"It's probably a ploy to take down Kaiba Corp. by making Duel Monsters useless," said Seto. "What, did Tsuki lose a game against Joey Wheeler and become so ashamed that he needed revenge against the game? What a loser. But I'd do the same thing if I were in his position."

"No, it's clear that this is a ploy to destroy both Duel Monsters and zanpakuto, or create a monstrosity out of them," said Toshiro. "Remember what he said? That the monsters we've been fighting were too boring. Either this milk and honey mix is the monster, or a new kind of monster is upon us. The problem is that I can't comprehend why Tsuki would want something like this to happen."

"Power, money, those are the only real reasons," said Seto.

"I don't care about your money-grubbing ways. But from the reiatsu in the environment, I'd say we'd better prepare for a new set of enemies, and they aren't hollows," said Toshiro. "Whatever, we'll continue this discussion later. Get some sleep."

Seto was taken to a room for him to stay in since the hospital wasn't necessary. His disk was by his side. It took some time to drift from consciousness since he stayed up thinking about his encounter with Toshiro.

The ice dragon was stunningly vicious, bright, and moved fast. Seto longed for one of his own, but stealing from Toshiro was no longer an option and from the sounds of it, zanpakuto were unique to the user. If he got one of his own, there was no guarantee it'd be anything like Toshiro's.

Seto woke up hungry. He hadn't eaten at all yesterday as he was too preoccupied. The first thing he looked at was his deck, which he fanned out and checked for any missing cards, of which there were none. Next was his disk. In the sunlight, it shone like metal armor. And it had a note attached to it. He recognized the purple mark on it as the one that had transformed his disk.

 _'Be prepared :)'_

Seto wanted to spit on the note. Tsuki was making fun of him. The fire within him for destroying the disturbance burned stronger. At the same time, he felt he was losing control of the situation. Tsuki did whatever he wanted and Seto wasn't able to stop any of it.

Seto got up and got ready for the day. His old clothes were cleaned and he put them on, which comforted him. He missed Mokuba. The boy would surely miss him too, and he always managed to get himself kidnapped when he was alone. Seto wanted to hurry back to him, but he had unfinished business. Mokuba would understand. He always did. Seto did want to be there for his little brother but it wasn't always possible.

"You look a little friendlier today," said Toshiro when Seto walked into his office.

"Shut it, kid," said Seto.

"For the last time, I'm hundreds of years older than you even though I look young," said Toshiro, whose anger was rising quickly.

"Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't look so small, then," said Seto. "It reminds me of my–"

Seto caught himself. As if he would allow himself to be at all vulnerable to another living being.

"A younger sibling?" said Toshiro. He sighed. "To be honest, I don't have a lot of friends. The closest one I have is Hiyori, and she almost died in a battle against Aizen, and it was my fault for being too rash not to see that it was her and not Aizen who had projected her as himself. She's small, too, and fragile, but… I don't know why I'm saying all this. I guess it seems like you might be similar to me in some ways."

"I don't know why either," said Seto.

"Exactly what I'm talking about," said Toshiro.

Seto was about to smirk and leave the room, but he felt a tug at his heart. A well of emotions bursting forth at the thought of Mokuba, the only person he had ever cared about.

"He would love this place. But he's also fine where he is, taking care of Kaiba Corp." said Seto. "Enough about that, have you located Tsuki yet?"

"Does it look like I did?" said Toshiro.

"Tell me without sarcasm," said Seto.

"You understood what I meant," said Toshiro.

Talking with Toshiro was like constantly trying to gain the upper hand. It was annoying, but also like a game, one which Seto was determined to win.

"I understood that you're not getting anywhere with this case," said Seto.

"Figure it out yourself, then," said Toshiro. "We don't have any leads, since his reiatsu appears and disappears at random, but we have people on lookout."

Seto gave Toshiro the note Tsuki left him.

"Can you guess what this means?" said Seto.

"There's something coming," said Toshiro.

"And we need to train to fight it," said Seto.


	6. Dark Energy

**A/N: A little birdy in my ear told me to stop being lazy. So… the end is near. I hope you're as excited this update as I am. The final chapter is what I've been looking forward to the most. Let's get it!**

"This just isn't working," said Toshiro.

Seto and Toshiro were standing off against each other in the open. It was cloudy, and clouds kept gathering throughout the day. Blocks of ice were stuck in various places around them, failed attempts by Toshiro to release Hyronimaru and get it working properly. Seto was covered in ice himself, and he pretended it didn't bother him though his blood boiled that he had to endure freezing. After his and Toshiro's conversation earlier, Seto was careful not to show any more vulnerability. It was embarrassing and Seto couldn't believe he let any bit about his personal feelings escaped him.

"Who programmed those things?" said Seto. "Whoever they are, they should be fired."

"No one 'programs' them. They just work," said Toshiro.

"Then, your ice dragon isn't computer generated?" said Seto.

"Of course not. We don't even have computers in Soul Society," said Toshiro.

Seto tried to process that. If it wasn't a program, how did zanpakuto work?

Toshiro summoned another blast of ice towards Seto, who drew a monster card in defense position, which blocked the attack, or would've if it didn't veer off into the sky and then crash in a pixel-y mess. Toshiro was getting pissed off.

"Here, try this," said Seto, tossing him a duel disk.

Toshiro caught it.

"This isn't anytime to play games," said Toshiro.

"Fighting is a game," said Seto.

"Have you ever been in a real battle? Where you have to keep your instincts sharp and not make a single wrong move or die," said Toshiro, flash-stepping to Seto and pressing the shivering sword up to his neck. "Have you ever been pouring out so much blood, barely missing death by an inch, where victory squeezes every last drop of sweat from your body? Look me in the eye and tell me it's a little strategy card game."

Seto gulped. "I'm not afraid of anyone or anything. I'll win no matter what, and I have easily crushed those that opposed me in life-or-death situations."

"You use cards for life-or-death? That's messed up," said Toshiro.

Seto pressed his fingers against the flat of the blade and pushed it away from him. "Try fighting me in duel monsters match if you think I can't take the pressure."

Toshiro's annoyance meter maxed out. He put Hyronimaru back in its scabbard and put the duel disk on his arm. To his surprise, it started to transform. Blue energy erupted from it and wrapped around it, pulling it apart piece by piece and morphing it into a bright white, rough, and ice-like crescent shape with multiple slots for cards with blue trimming.

"This didn't happen when I wore it before," said Toshiro.

Seto smiled. "Someone with your intelligence didn't figure out that would happen?"

Before Toshiro could bite back a response, Seto placed multiple monster and magic cards on his disk, summoning one blue-eyes white dragon.

"So you can only summon one at a time," said Toshiro.

That was an unfortunate limitation for those new disks.

Toshiro played the dark magician in response. With his reiatsu, he influenced the life-size character to float high and strike Seto with a stream of black and purple magic, just like how he would use his zanpakuto. Seto instinctively used the reiatsu in his desk to defend him. With deft hands, he replaced the blue-eyes with a polymerization, which sucked in the attack and morphed it into a mess of black energy, and then replaced that card with another blue-eyes, which merged with the energy to form a giant shadow dragon. He directed it to breath fire on Toshiro.

Toshiro had already prepared his next move. The dark magician girl was ready to absorb the blast, which created a huge roar that reverberated for miles. She retained that magic and fired multiple short energy bursts, all the while getting closer to Seto. Seto's dragon deflected most of them, getting hit by just one, which burned into its scales and causing it to whimper.

"Go forth, shadow dragon, and destroy his life points!" said Seto.

Out of nowhere, he was knocked to the ground. Toshiro stood over him, the edge of his blade pointed at his jugular. He had flash-stepped to him with all the distractions providing him cover.

"You rely only on power, and can easily be taken by surprise when you're not paying attention to your opponent's strategy. That is your ultimate downfall," said Toshiro.

"If I had a bigger, more powerful card, all your strategies would be meaningless," said Seto.

"But that's not how things turned out," said Toshiro. "You act all high-and-mighty with nothing backing you up."

"An extremely high win percentage backs me up," said Seto.

Toshiro drew Hyronimaru against Seto's skin down to his chest, not piercing him. Still, Seto kept his defiant look on his face.

"What if I killed you right now?" said Toshiro.

"Go ahead, if you can," said Seto.

"Enemies in Soul Society wouldn't hesitate to crush you," said Toshiro. He yanked Seto up to a sitting position by his collar, from which the suddenness of froze Seto's expression and stiffened his whole body.

"But you're welcome to pretend you could stand a chance on the battlefield," Toshiro whispered into his ear.

The monsters were still in their last positions, Seto saw, and Toshiro's back was to them. Seto commanded the dragon to break the dark magician girl's staff, and from the sound, Toshiro whipped around. The staff cracked and the stored black and purple energy shot into the sky, making it rumble. The clouds turned even darker than before. They were heavy, but didn't rain.

"You're pretty unobservant yourself," said Seto, smirking.

Toshiro released his hold on him, and Seto fell back on his palms, with a delirious smile that led to laughter. Seto stood up and dusted himself off though scratches and ice remained. The both of them took off their duel disks.

Toshiro sighed. "Duel monsters is more powerful than I anticipated."

"It is an amazing game," said Seto.

Toshiro ignored him and walked away. Rangiku caught up with him.

"Captain, what was all that?" said Rangiku.

"Weren't you watching?" said Toshiro. "Since my zanpakuto is acting weird and I can't get in contact with Hyorinmaru, it seems there's an alternative way to fight the coming monsters."

"Actually, no one's zanpakuto is working," said Rangiku.

"What?" said Toshiro.

"Also, I didn't want to interrupt your fight, but an emergency meeting has been called by the head captain," said Rangiku.

"Those meetings are always so boring," said Toshiro, "but informative."

"Tell me about it. I was about to explode waiting," said Rangiku.

"You weren't even there," said Toshiro. "Anyways…"

"What is it?" said Rangiku.

"They predicted we had a couple of weeks before we were attacked," said Toshiro.

"That'll be more than enough time to prepare," said Rangiku.

"The problem is, I think it'll come a lot sooner," said Toshiro. "I didn't tell the other captains, though, because I want to take care of this myself, with the 10th division. We're the ones who took the human in."

"Captain, you know what happened last time when you try to do important things all on your own, with Aizen," said Rangiku.

"I know. But this time I have a much better idea of what's going on," said Toshiro.

"Okay," said Rangiku, unsure.

"The threat might be here in 2 days maximum," said Toshiro.

"How are we going to fight them without our zanpakutos?" said Rangiku.

"That's what we're going to have to find out," said Toshiro.

Later that night, Toshiro fiddled with the ice duel disk. It had felt easy, natural to use. The feeling wasn't dissimilar to Hyorinmaru, but it had been exhilarating in its own way and kept his hands free. It wasn't a discovery he could revel in, though, since all his attention had to be on the looming threat, and he could feel the weight and electricity of the air, which chilled him to the bone.


	7. Evolve or Die

**A/N: The finale is finally here. This is what I've been waiting to write from the start and it's really freakin' long, the lengths I went to finish this... Tell me what you think of it if you like :)**

Soul Society was in a mess. The gravity was heavy, the sky was dark with thunder and lightning, the air was thick and acidic, and no one could get their zanpakutos to work properly. Everyone in the 10th district was apprehensive, since nothing like this had happened before. The spells were semi-functional, though. Toshiro had a hard time calming his subordinates down.

"–and we'll eliminate this threat. If your zanpakuto doesn't work, just use the sword itself. Use spells. Use your wits," said Toshiro.

The 10th district agreed without much enthusiasm, and Toshiro took a walk outside, waiting for the monsters to reveal themselves. Seto soon found him.

"You aren't authorized to be here much longer. You should go home," said Toshiro.

"Not yet. You could even leave right now and leave that Tsuki scum to me," said Seto.

"You never learn," said Toshiro.

"I don't work well with other people," said Seto.

"Great, because you're not even going to part of this battle," said Toshiro, who hit Seto with the bottom of his blade, knocking his breath out. "I don't have time to deal with you. I'll have someone send you back."

"Haven't you seen the power of Duel Monsters?" said Seto. He was on the floor, catching his breath. "It's way stronger than your pathetic swords."

"You might not care if you get killed, but Soul Society would punish me if you died under my watch," said Toshiro. "Shut up and stop being selfish. You haven't witnessed anything close to what a bankai or even shikai can do."

"Don't talk down to me," said Seto.

At that, Toshiro felt like exploding. He picked Seto up despite protest and carried him over his shoulder to a pale-faced 10th district newbie.

"Take him back to the human world," said Toshiro.

The newbie became relieved, not wanting to fight.

"Sure thing, captain," said the newbie.

Toshiro flash-stepped away.

"Don't think of touching me, peasant," Seto growled.

The newbie spell-bound Seto's hands together and gripped his arms from the back.

"Just following orders," said the newbie.

Seto scouted the area, seeing Rangiku and Toshiro were nowhere to be seen, and elbowed the death god while stepping on his foot, which surprised him and made him let Seto go. With his anger, Seto struggled against the spell on his hands and broke it.

"Hmm, I'd duel you another time, but I have business to attend to," said Seto. The death god could only stare with his jaw hanging open.

Seto briskly walked over to a secluded spot and observed the clouds. They were dark grey, purple, and close to black. Every strike of lightning excited Seto. He was interested in what what kind of enemies would appear and how powerful they were. Once the heavens started to split apart, a rare and creepy grin formed on Seto's face.

"Hell yeah," said Seto.

He ran to where masses of black energy were spilling into huge shapes even bigger than the biggest Duel Monsters hologram. Some were filled with electricity, and some disappeared into puffs of smoke. They roared and began attacking the nearby death gods with claws and massive, swift pounces. Some shot wavering yellow beams from their mouths. Seto spotted Toshiro slicing through them. An especial amount were gathered around him, and he might become overwhelmed. Without thinking Seto rushed to him and summoned his blue-eyes white dragon, which roasted a tiger-shaped monster with huge, dripping black teeth that was about to attack Toshiro. He didn't know why he did it, but he felt a strange urge to protect Toshiro.

Toshiro rolled his eyes at Seto. "If you're going to fight, don't stop there."

"You don't have to tell me," said Seto.

Two monsters came for Seto simultaneously. Seto blasted them away with Blue-eyes, and turned his attention to the other one, whose jaws were hovering over his head. A shiver of fear ran through Seto, and he could feel its cold, cold breath. He commanded Blue-eyes to attack, but it might've been too late. Its tongue scraped against his chest, out of which his heart was beating hard.

Toshiro severed its head, and it dissipated into the atmosphere. Slime stuck to Seto's shirt and he wiped as much off as he could, but it stuck to his hand. He refused to touch his other cards with a dirty palm so he would have to be fine with just having Blue-eyes summoned.

Seto took in the glance Toshiro gave him and it pissed him off. It was an arrogant, "Don't make me save you, incompetent idiot," kind of look, and it was reserved for Seto's sole use. Seto narrowed his eyes and turned his attention back on the shadows surrounding them. He put all his energy in a burst of attacks.

Some monsters left scratches on him, and one tore a piece off his jacket. The battle went on for what seemed forever, and Seto began to tire. The enemies kept coming but his defenses were getting slower.

A tall, bear-type thing pounced on him, crushing him to the ground. Blue-eyes bore into its side, but it wasn't enough to stop it from tearing his torso and infecting the wounds with its smoke energy. Another blow from Blue-eyes, and it died. Seto was in immense pain and couldn't think straight. He crawled under Blue-eyes and let the dragon wrap itself around him. He touched his blood. It was a nasty purple and he could feel it eating into his body, though slowly.

Seto's rage built up from Tsuki starting the whole thing. His energy for that weakened, though, and for the first time in his life, he was afraid for his life. He had a lot he wanted to do at Kaiba Corp., and he hadn't defeated Yugi yet. Mokuba would get the company, and if those moments were truly the end, he wished Mokuba would be happy and carry on Seto's legacy the best he could.

Thunder shook the ground, and a sudden disturbance shifted the atmosphere and left Seto's head spinning. Static was in the air, and he became light-headed. It got a lot brighter as well, and no more monster screams could be heard. Blue-eyes stepped away from Seto and he saw Tsuki descending. When his feet touched the surface, he greeted everyone.

"You've really done well. I'm so happy, the experiment in a major success," said Tsuki.

"Who are you and what do you want?" said Toshiro.

"I'm not anyone important, yet. All I want is for Soul Society to crumble, and infect zanpakutos with a polluting energy like Duel Monsters was the perfect thing to make the zanpakutos reject the pollutant and by extension, part of themselves. With my special dark purple reiatsu I spent years perfecting in a lab, I was able to accomplish this, and all I required was for the objects in question to absorb more of it, like glue, or high heat that melts things so they may be mixed," said Tsuki. "And this happened better than I expected. Soon, Soul Society will collapse from the pressure of reaitsu destroying itself. What do I gain? The energy of a whole realm of existence in its purest form. I might create a new world with it, or maybe I'll keep it in my pocket."

"You calculated something wrong," said Seto.

"And what is that?" said Tsuki.

"Duel Monsters isn't a pollutant. You clearly are unaware of its greatness," said Seto.

Seto was used to moving Blue-eyes around by then and it barreled at Tsuki, who flash-stepped away in front of him, but Seto was ready with a punch to his face, though it was weak because of Seto's exhaustion.

Toshiro came over, taking a worried look at Seto's wounds, and stepped in front of him, which shocked Seto who expected little kindness from him. Toshiro was bruised himself, and had a cut on his back.

"We won't stand for this," said Toshiro. Seto heard him whisper under his breath, "Why aren't the other districts here?"

"By the way, there's a barrier around us. No one should get through. After all, I spent a lot of effort on that thing," said Tsuki.

Toshiro readied his blade, and he engaged in a high-speed sword match with Tsuki, with Toshiro getting the upper hand, and he stabbed Tsuki through the chest, or would've if the blow wasn't blocked by invisible armor.

"I'm not done yet. The first round was just for fun," said Tsuki.

"You wish," said Seto.

He sent Blue-eyes forward with all his pent-up emotions. Anger, that Tsuki dare injure him. Fear, that poison was blending with his blood. Frustration, that he didn't have control over the situation. And sadness, that he wasn't able to win against his strongest opponents and might never be able to. Blue-eyes White Dragon flew with grace and passion, a shining light on the battlefield. Tsuki smirked at it, ready to destroy it with a flick of his wrist.

A tingling sensation radiated from Seto's duel disk and throughout his whole body. Blue-eyes stopped mid-air, shimmering. Acid streamed into Seto and gave him the strength to stand. He felt as though he were on fire for a second, and his disk crashed from his arm.

Seto didn't understand why Toshiro stared at him with wide eyes, or why Tsuki glanced between him and the duel disk with something akin to horror on his face, that is, until he picked up his disk. It had turned into a sword, a katana like the zanpakuto Toshiro and Rangiku used. Seto rubbed the hilt, and traced the shiny blade with his finger.

"How did you do that?" said Tsuki. "What did you just do? Your connection to your reiatsu shouldn't be that strong."

"I don't know what a word of that means, but be prepared to lose," said Seto.

It was clunky and Seto hadn't learned how to use one of them for a single minute, and he wasn't sure how to hold it correctly. It vibrated, and Seto got sucked into its aura that called out to him, as if it had a voice.

"It's not as though you can do anything with it anyways," said Tsuki.

"Idiot, I already know its name," said Seto. "Demolish, Dragon of the Forest."

Seto's outfit transformed. His coat disappeared and green scales appeared on his forearms and around his black muscle shirt, and more scales formed on his neck and up his jaw. His zanpakuto gained a long, green, snaking handle and a serrated, shiny green but short blade. A bright green dragon with a long tail and magnificent wings with ice at the edges manifested.  
"You… it takes years to get to shikai," said Tsuki. "Whatever, you're going to die here anyways."

Tsuki held his hands to the sky, and monsters tumbled out. This time, they had concrete form, in all sorts of colors. Some had ugly masks, and some were tiny. How annoying.

"We have to stick together," said Toshiro.

Seto nodded at him. He didn't accept help from anyone. Not Mokuba, not Yugi. He rather liked Toshiro, though. They were similar types of people who did everything on their own and who were determined to make it to the top. Or maybe it was because the situation was so strange that he was willing to work together with Toshiro.

Seto used his brand new ability to decimate the bugs that tried to bite him, hacking them with the sword and getting Forest Dragon to breathe dark green fire at everything that moved. The dragon moved quickly, and the scales on Seto protected him from deadly hits, he found. Gold, mutated lizards jumped on his shoulder and he sliced through them.

Upon seeing Seto successfully use shikai, Toshiro unleashed Hyorinmaru with his bankai. There was no glitchy mess, only a strong ice dragon. He took out the duel disk he had kept with him as a last resort and activated it, but instead of transforming into a sword, it broke down into smoke. An ice field formed, with dragon-sized card slots indented into the ice. With this, a lumbering monster stumbled towards Toshiro, who flew high in the air and sent waves of ice to the card slots, forming shapes that summoned whatever he wanted. First was a trap card that entangled the monster, and then a card that pierced it with light. It was fun, and he could do that in addition to slashing and freezing everything in his path. The slots of cards moved with him, and he summoned card after card, effectively rampaging through all the monsters.

Seto stabbed a black ghost thing and the dragon chewed through its nearby friends. Exhilaration flowed in his every movement. He was more satisfied than he had been in a long time, and his instincts sharpened the more he fought.  
"How are you doing over there?" said Seto.

"Great, how about you?" said Toshiro.

"Absolutely fantastic," said Seto, his wounds all but forgotten.

Toshiro summoned a giant ice shield that blocked a giant tiger thing, then used Hyronimaru to crush it and all that was in its vicinity.

The enemies dwindled down until there were only a few left. Tsuki tried to create more, but seemed too tired to. Toshiro landed next to Seto. If Seto thought Hyronimaru was beautiful, Toshiro's bankai was stunning. Ice wings adorned him. Seto had always wanted to be able to fly, but he liked his own zanpakuto even better, and he wondered how didn't know such an amazing design for a Duel Monsters card existed when he looked at Forest Dragon.

"You mastered reiatsu really quickly," said Toshiro. "That's amazing."

"Is it? It feels natural," said Seto.

Seto and Toshiro combined their abilities to finish the battle. Toshiro froze the last one, and Seto sent Forest Dragon to chomp it.

"It's over. Don't think of running, Tsuki," said Toshiro.

"Things progressed farther than I thought. Instead of destroying itself, the milk and honey, I mean the zanpakuto and Duel Monsters, actually combined to make something more powerful. I'm not sure whether I should be proud of my invention or disappointed that I didn't get what I wanted," said Tsuki.

Toshiro cast a spell to trap Tsuki. Seto had been too busy to notice before, but the second his duel disk turned into a zanpakuto, the gravity and atmosphere returned to normal.

Seto stood above Tsuki. Tsuki's eyes were purple, just like his near-black hair, and he showed no remorse in his expression.

"That'll teach you to mess with Seto Kaiba. You're such a failure, even Joey Wheeler would laugh at you," said Seto. "You lost because you didn't anticipate me playing outside the rules."

Tsuki just bowed his head. Seconds later, death gods flooded the area since Tsuki released the barrier. There was a lot of annoying conversation, and Seto left the area, only to be followed by Toshiro.

"You were hit pretty badly. You need to go to the 4th district to be healed," said Toshiro.

"Alright," said Seto.

"That's all? No argument about how you'll get better on your own?" said Toshiro.

"I don't know, I'll regret saying this later, but I trust you, Toshiro. You're the first friend I've ever made, and maybe friendship isn't such a worthless thing after all," said Seto. "Thank you for saving me earlier."

Toshiro laughed. "You turned out to have more guts than I expected, and I respect you for that. I'm fine with being friends, I don't make new ones often myself even though I've had hundreds of years to do so."

Hearing that Toshiro valued him as a friend made Seto happy, not in a gleeful or proud way, but just… happy. It was a strange sensation.

"Well, I'll see you later," said Seto.

"Okay," said Toshiro. "You did well out there."

"Of course I did. I'm Seto Kaiba, head of Kaiba Corp."

Through the following months, Seto recovered until he was poison-free. He didn't use his new abilities in Japan, but he did visit Soul Society often to train. Toshiro was his only friend, though Rangiku tried to rope him into doing her paperwork all the time.

The End.


End file.
